WASHINGTON, DC -- A judge here has just turned down requests from media lawyers for access to a series of unusual post-conviction hearings for Igmar Guandique, the Salvadoran immigrant a jury was convinced murdered Washington intern Chandra Levy.

The hearings are important enough that marshals brought the gang member up from a federal prison in Alabama, where he is doing 60 years for attacking Levy, 24, while she was jogging in Rock Creek Park in May, 2001.

But the only information released publicly about the hearings is that they involve a witness, and that there are safety concerns.

Prosecutors are demanding the proceedings remains secret. Defense attorneys actually agree with the media and want them open. But the DC Court of Appeals just denied a request by Guandique's lawyers to open the hearings and the transcripts.

Chandra Levy's disappearance in 2001 was the center of a world-wide media blitz after police figured out she was having an affair with married Rep. Gary Condit (R-CA).